A MAN has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison after admitting to punching the store manager of Waitrose in Okehampton.

Thomas Chatterton, 25, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to assault by beating at Exeter Magistrates Court on Wednesday, January 24. He was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for the incident on Wednesday, January 10, and ordered to pay £100 compensation to his victim, Waitrose store manager Michael Bestwick.

Chatterton also admitted stealing meat worth £45 from Waitrose in Okehampton in a separate incident on Tuesday, January 23. He was sentenced to a week’s imprisonment for this, to run concurrently with the first sentence, and ordered to pay £45 compensation to Waitrose.

He was also sentenced to one week’s imprisonment, to run concurrently with the first one, for breach of his conditional discharge for an earlier conviction.